


Pineapples and Sea Salt

by Aloga (Herbo)



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Also a lot of imagery, Angst, I wrote this a long time ago, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Ive been meaning to post on ao3 but i have anxiety please enjoy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27493027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herbo/pseuds/Aloga
Summary: Aloha worries about the infidelity of his current partner, dreaming of his old one.
Relationships: Aloha/Mask (Splatoon), Aloha/Snorkel (Splatoon)
Kudos: 11





	Pineapples and Sea Salt

**Author's Note:**

> A use different names for a few characters.  
> Aurora = Designer Headphones  
> Diver = Snorkel
> 
> Thank you for reading.

It was dark. And wet. Aloha’s bare feet hit the slippery cave floor with the soft tap-tap of walking over damp ground. The rocks were surprisingly smooth, making them extremely slippery. The narrow walls were suffocating, closing in on the pink inkling. He could barely breathe. He didn’t know how long he’d been there, in his own special hell. Alone.   
He caught a hint of a breeze. It tasted like the ocean, like comfort. It drew him to follow it. The salty sea breeze led him through the twisting caverns. It smelled like hope. It smelled like home. The time stretched to infinity and Aloha soon forgot how long he’d been following a sea breeze that never seemed to end. Only leading him further into the depths.  
Yet just like that, he reached a wall. The breeze had been coming through one of the cracks. Gentle, enticing. He didn’t know how much he needed this until he felt it this close. The wall wouldn’t stop him. The source of it was eye level. Against his better judgement, he peered through the crack.  
On the other side was a cyan crab. For a brief moment, the two of them made eye contact. Somehow, only now did Aloha’s heart sink to his chest. He knew what it was going to do.   
“I’m sorry- I’m sorry- I’m-” Aloha’s voice shook as tears rapidly formed and fell. It was no use.  
The crab snipped its claws and the breeze fell dead, leaving Aloha alone in the dark again.

🍍

Aloha awoke with a cold sweat and a beating heart. The sun outside was already well in the sky. It didn’t matter though, as the pink inkling next to him was still fast asleep, his back turned towards his lover. Aloha took a few deep breaths before wrapping his arms around Diver. He smelled like hope, home, and salt. He was calming down, but somehow his dream lingered in his mind. He wanted to cry. Nothing would come out, of course, but there was a knot in his throat and iron in his stomach.   
Still, even being next to Diver relaxed him, slowly but surely his dream slipped into vagueness.  
He never wanted to leave the bed.   
Diver groaned and shifted in his sleep, slowly waking up. He mumbled something and tried to pry off his lover’s hands, who kissed his back and giggled softly, murmuring a soft “I love you”.  
Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad.

🌊

“Straw! Octoglasses!” Aloha yelled to a pair of pink inklings fanning themselves under a palm tree. The midday sun was burning, no wonder they were in the shade. Aloha already felt like his shirt was drowning in sweat. “It sure is a scorcher today, huh?”  
“Yeah,” Octoglasses agreed, “I’m so glad Musselforge is in the rotation, otherwise I’d burn up.” She adjusted her sunglasses over her eyes, trying to look like the heat wasn’t bothering her as much as anyone else.  
“I think it’s a perfect day! There’s nothing more exhilarating than playing with the sun on your back!” Straw smiled, unaffected by the heat. It was almost like she was absorbing and radiating it. Octoglasses tugged at her shirt collar, apparently feeling that too.  
Diver shook his head, “I’d prefer not getting heatstroke, personally.” The lense of his mask was fogged up. How could he even see? Evidently, he couldn’t and just ended up having to wipe off the condensation, multiple times.  
Together, they all headed toward the Deca Tower, debating what drinks to get in front of Crusty Sean’s. Aloha preferred the apple, while Diver preferred the lemon. Octoglasses and Straw both wanted the melon, but only had one ticket between them. As the two girls went at it, the boys quietly sipped their drinks and watched. They weren’t “fighting” per se, rather they were both putting on the farce that they wanted melon. Octoglasses almost always got peach, and Straw’s favorite was the grape. It was ritual for them to go at it like this, they always ended up laughing about it anyway.  
Out of the corner of his eye, Aloha spotted Aurora and Mask beneath an umbrella, drinking their juice. Mask was playing a mobile game and talking to Aurora at the same time. He’d always been skilled at multi-tasking, able to manage talking and playing at the same time. If Aloha remembered correctly, Mask had always enjoyed rhythm games the most.  
“Hey Mask!” Aloha waved to the cyan inkling as he left his team’s energized yelling. “How are you?” He made his smile look as inviting as possible.  
Mask met the pink captain with an icy glare. The temperature around seemed to drop 5 degrees. Without breaking eye contact, the cyan captain said to his teammate, “It’s that fucking normie again, Au-ro-ra.” His voice was full of disgust. The trislosher next to him snickered. The pink inkling felt his heart stop for a brief moment. Usually he’d be able to get over this right away, but for some reason today’s insult cut him deeper than usual.   
He laughed it off, as he always did, “Oh, you don’t mean that, Mask.” Was all he could manage before the cyan inkling’s gaze went back to his phone. Aloha tried to lean forward to see what game he was playing, but Mask pulled his phone towards himself.   
The pink inkling turned away from the two. Diver reached to pat shoulder as he rejoined his team, Octoglasses and Straw just finishing up their drinks. The H-3 looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he put his hand back down, turning his head in the opposite direction of his lover.  
Aloha found himself wanting Diver’s touch more than anything at that moment.

🍹

The sun was getting low in the sky as the pink team began their last match. Starfish Mainstage was absolutely stunning at this time of day. As Aloha hefted his .52 gal in his hands he breathed in. The yellow green team was on the other side, led by Rider. For some reason, Goggles was playing with them today too.  
“Rider’s sure gotten a lot better since Goggles came around, huh?” Straw hummed as her Krak-On roller sprang out of the ink after her form. She tilted her hat upwards with a determined look on her face. She looked like she was ready to fight.  
“I think we’ve all gotten better since that blue ball of joy came around.” Octoglasses smiled at Straw, who nodded her head.   
Diver’s form solidified last. “Blazer isn’t playing with them today?” he seemed a bit distracted as he ran his fingers over the hose within his H-3, eyes only for his nozzlenose. Aloha almost let his thoughts go beyond the battle ahead.  
Almost.  
3…  
Aloha glanced back at his team. He was confident in them, and gave them his best smile.  
2…  
“We won’t lose to them!”  
1…  
“Of course!” The pink team chimed.  
Go!

🌴

15 seconds left. The tower was 14-15, in the pink team’s favor. The yellow green team didn’t stand a chance. They just had to hold it in mid to win. The pink team was hard pressed to get back into mid though, as the yellow green team was pushing them back with well timed tentamissles and stingrays. Over and over they kept being picked off.  
The tower passed the first checkpoint. The overtime siren sounded.   
“Diver- wait for me to respawn! Let’s move in together!” Aloha shouted as his form began to solidify at the respawn pad. The pink captain’s request fell on deaf ears as Diver jumped on tower in a solo effort to stop the tower.   
It was no use- the pink inkling was rolled over by Rider, who was successfully keeping every other inkling off the tower. The smug gold dynamo rolled around tower in slow circles, his special filled. Even from spawn, Aloha could hear Goggles’s loud praises of Rider’s strategy.   
They were at the second checkpoint. Ink armor activated.  
Aloha sharked, waiting for the tower to get close enough to jump onto. Instead of noticing his captain, Diver once again jumped on tower, once again getting rolled over. If Aloha could resume his humanoid form he would, just to rub his temples in irritation.  
“Whoa Rider! That’s so useful! You can get so many kills by just rolling- It’s amazing! You’re so cool!” Goggles shouted from within ink on the tower, his voice a bit watery.  
“Of course!” Rider chuffed, “You’d know this if you didn’t play turf war all the time.” He seemed to enjoy the attention.  
The tower reached 20, the third checkpoint was activated.  
Aloha jumped down, splatting Rider almost instantly. The tower stopped. Where was the other one? He inked around the tower as Goggles shouted his battle cry. It was too late for the pink inkling to realize the inkling above him was splashing down. There was a sea of yellow green ink and Aloha was drowning in it.  
They took the lead!

🌺

Straw and Octoglasses drank from their matching water bottles after the match, refreshed and satisfied with that close match. Their soft “We’ll totally get them next time!”s were excited. The two seemed to be in good spirits. Diver had gone to splash water on his face, as per Aloha’s digression. He hadn’t been listening at all during that last match. Lately he hadn’t been listening much, but today was a new low, even for him. The pink captain’s patience would only go so far, even for his lover.  
“That was so fun!” Goggles’s inside voice was hardly distinguishable from his outside voice, “Thank you for playing with us!”  
“The feeling’s mutual!” Aloha smiled, afraid his voice sounded strained. Goggles didn’t notice though.  
No one ever noticed, though.  
Aloha closed his eyes, relaxed on one of the benches, and waited for his teammate. The yellow green team stuck around too, apparently Goggles wanted to tell them goodbye when they left.  
When Diver returned, the first thing he did was ask Rider about Blazer.  
“She said she was feeling a bit sick today, you can see her tomorrow.” Aloha overheard Rider say to someone. Looks like someone was worried about her.  
“Thanks, Rider.” It was Diver. Aloha’s eyes popped open. His voice shook slightly. His back was to his lover.   
“Diver- Aren’t you and Aloha-” Rider started. He didn’t finish though, as Aloha caught his eye with the most malicious look he could muster.  
“We are! We are!” Diver rushed, “I’ve just been… talking to her more. That’s all…” Diver’s voice trailed off as he put his hand to the back of his neck.  
“Then you should head back to him, he’s probably waiting for you.” Rider nodded his head toward the Deca Tower as Aloha stood and went to gather the rest of his team.  
The four of them waved the Deca Tower and the yellow green team goodbye. They gently pushed each other around in the light of the dimming sun. “Hey! We should go over to my place for some snacks! I bought way too many cookies yesterday.” Straw suggested.  
“How could you buy too many- you’re usually really efficient. You probably bought them because you wanted us over~” Octoglasses playfully teased, flicking at Straw’s hat.  
“Hey! I swear!” Straw crossed her fingers and waved her hand in Octoglasses’s smug face.  
“That’s what people do when they don’t mean what they say, y’know~” Octoglasses grinned as Straw blushed in embarrassment. She was about to say something more, but Aloha cut in.  
"I can’t today, I have to go home and take care of something really important." It was an easy lie. Octoglasses raised her eyebrows and Aloha couldn’t meet her eyes. They were both thinking something similarly.   
“That’s alright! You’re free to come by later, though! There probably won’t be any snacks left, though.” Straw waved.  
Diver listlessly looked in the distance, thinking about someone who wasn’t there.   
He missed Diver’s laugh.

🦀

The group parted ways, the girls cheerfully waving Aloha off. The pink inkling doubted Diver noticed his leave at all, as he was still spaced out. He smiled for as long as he could before turning away and taking the long way home. Through countless winding alleys to the beach.   
The sun sank lower and lower through the sky as dusk began to fall. He was almost to the beach when he met a familiar figure in the center of one of the alleyways, fiddling with a phone. He didn’t need to say anything for the lone cyan inkling to take note of his presence.   
He could tell Mask was grinning under his gas mask, “Oh~ You’re without your entourage today, Aloha~ Did th-”   
“Shut up Mask.” Aloha surprised even himself with his cold response.  
“Ohoh~ So something did happen~” Mask put his phone in his pocket, focusing all his attention on the pink inkling in front of him. Aloha suddenly felt off guard, Mask hadn’t looked at him with his full attention since they’d been together. Since Aloha left him.  
“I said shut up.” Aloha repeated, with a bit less confidence. He clenched his fists and glared at Mask.  
He seemed shocked for a moment, sleepy eyes wide beneath his mask. Aloha blinked, realizing how harsh he was coming off. He opened his mouth to correct himself, but Mask spoke first.  
“You had it coming for you, anyway.” Mask’s voice cracked, “You lot always end up ditching each other for someone else, in the end.” He seemed sad, his expressive eyes downcast as he pushed past Aloha to the other exit of the alley, hands in his pockets and shoulders tense. Mask’s form was stolen from Aloha by his own misty eyes.  
Aloha didn’t realize he was crying until after Mask left. Hot tears and deep sobs. He felt like he was drowning. No matter how many times he rubbed his eyes his tears wouldn’t stop. He couldn’t breathe. It took almost 10 minutes to calm down. His heart hurt.  
He hadn’t cried in weeks.

🐠

The last scraps of daylight were quickly passing as Aloha made his way to his home. Though it was small, there was as many flowers as he could manage in the yard, making the place feel bigger than it was. He noticed movement at his front door. As he got closer he noticed it was the rest of his team. They were probably worried about him, but Aloha couldn’t face them now. Not after what had happened with Mask.  
He resumed his squid form and hid in some pink foliage, waiting for them to leave. As the sun finally set they gave up and headed back. As they walked past him, Aloha could hear them talking.  
"...weird- he's usually home. I”m worried about him- What if he doesn’t get home? What if- He’s dead!” Straw slapped her hands on her cheeks and let out a soft “eek!”  
“Pfft- He isn’t dead, Straw. He seemed a bit off today, though. I’m worried about him.” Octoglasses had her hand on her chin.  
"Really? I didn't notice anything." Diver shrugged, glancing at Aloha’s home. “Besides, he’s probably asleep or something.”  
“Nah, he usually leaves the downstairs light on.” Octoglasses frowned. "Jeez, aren't you two supposed to be dating? You should’ve noticed this.”  
"Well, yeah, but he's..." Aloha strained to make anything else out, but they were too far away. He wanted to cry again. Those disgusting tears. Not out here though, he’d rather cry in his room.  
What Mask had said kept repeating in his head as he struggled with the front door.   
You lot always end up ditching each other, in the end.   
When he’d managed to get the door open, he darted inside like the outdoor world was chasing him back in. He locked the door from the inside and slid down it, all the way to the floor. The pink inkling put his head in his hands and began to sob again.  
He didn’t remember going to his bedroom, but suddenly he was there, in the bed he woke up in. His wet tears stained the sheets. Diver’s scent lingered there.  
It smelled like hope. It smelled like home.

🐚

Aloha didn’t remember falling asleep again. All he knew was that he was back in the cave, back to the wall. The breeze was fainter now, it almost wasn’t there anymore. The floor of the cavern was wetter now too, drops of saltwater falling from the ceiling to the floor, reverberating throughout the caves.  
There was movement at his feet in the dim light, the cyan crab from the wall climbed up his leg and settled in his lap. He wasn’t afraid of it anymore, not after today. Surprisingly, the crab shimmered and seemed to glow. It was warm, familiar, it made Aloha feel safe.  
The pink inkling picked it up and kissed the back of its shell.  
“I miss you.”


End file.
